Higher interest rates put the brakes on housing

January’s surprise base rate hike hit mortgage market sentiment, says Moneyextra.com. Although mortgage rates take time to change, the increase in base rate early in the New Year appears to have had a salutary effect on homebuyers and mortgage payers.

Robin Amlôt of Moneyextra.com said, “For many, November’s base rate rise has only just hit their mortgages and, now, they have the prospect of another guaranteed increase in their costs and talk of yet another base rate rise to come in the near future!

“Under the circumstances it’s hardly surprising that the the average value of both property and likely mortgage being searched against on Moneyextra.com’s mortgage comparison tool eased down across all sectors (first time buyer, home mover, re-mortgagor) from December to January.”

Year on year, the mortgage market is still showing gains but the pace of increase continues to slow with the average mortgage amount being sought rising just 6.58% to £135,791 compared with year ago levels. Average property prices rose by an annual 6.89% in January to £220,836.

The average value of mortgages actually completed by AWD Moneyextra customers in January reached a new high of £155,185.78. The most popular mortgage lender in January was Woolwich.